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My first axe

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I saw some recommendations and a great youtube review for the Council Tool Boy's Axe and saw an incredible deal for one on an auction so I pulled the trigger and it got here today. I realize I'll have to spend more than 10-15 minutes putting an edge on it but I couldn't hold out any longer so I went out back and gave it a try.

Home made

Four chops! Alright, so this piece was rotten, but it still felt great.

This one looks like more of a challenge.

Looks like someone's home

About 10-12 whacks

Some light splitting

Since it's my first, I don't have much to compare it to but at 28", I felt like I had good control and good put some force behind it without having to worry so much about it sinking into my leg. I could choke up and do the splitting and felt a lot of control and not having to put much energy into it to get the job done. It worked great and I can't wait to get a good edge on it to see what it can really do.

nice!
i love mine... it didnt take very long at all for me to get a razor edge on mine. it came with a near perfect 25 degree concave bit without me even touching it...
it does have a real nice feel to it as well

I don't think it particularly good but tell me what you think. Like I said, it was great deal and my first axe so if it's bad, let me know. The only thing available around here are the big box stores and cheap imports so I went with the inexpensive USA model available online without seeing it.

Heck, that's not to bad.
Mine has really nice grain as well, but I was able to hand pick it locally. There were a few that had really bad grain and only two that had good grain. Naturally, I picked the best of the two.

And the grain isn't so bad, I have one currently that is 90 degrees from what it should be. I also have one that has a nearly perfect grain that I bought (I'm talking handles only, no heads). The best place I have found around me is flea markets. I found some that I really like

So would I. I'd consider anything less than 45° off vertical to be OK and this haft is only 25° off vertical. Not an issue. Plus it shows the wide grain of a fast-growing 2nd growth tree. Up to 40 growth rings per inch is OK. Less than 20 is preferred. That haft has maybe 16. So it has essentially perfect ring spacing. Spend a little more time working on the edge and you'll have a great working axe.

So would I. I'd consider anything less than 45° off vertical to be OK and this haft is only 25° off vertical. Not an issue. Plus it shows the wide grain of a fast-growing 2nd growth tree. Up to 40 growth rings per inch is OK. Less than 20 is preferred. That haft has maybe 16. So it has essentially perfect ring spacing. Spend a little more time working on the edge and you'll have a great working axe.

I just ordered one from bensbackwoods.com a forest service version. They come with a better handle and are sharpened to forest service specs.

There were some FS CT axes on e bay last week. They had just been listed and were the 4lb heads with a 36" handle. The guy wanted 'buy it now' price of 24.99. He had 40 something that he had won in a government auction. I was going to buy one the next day, but they were all gone
I mean they were brand new, unused! They were also painted FS green.